Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is quietly opening his company’s vast trove of user data for a study on economic inequality in the U.S. This is the latest sign that Zuckerberg is trying to reckon with divisions in American society that the social network is accused of making worse. The study is using social connections on Facebook to look at the growing income disparity in the U.S. The top 1 percent of households is said to control 40 percent of the country’s wealth. It is estimated that about three of five American adults use Facebook. Stanford economist Raj Chetty is leading the study, but declined to talk about the full scope of the research. Veterans of Washington’s domestic policy debates think Facebook’s involvement could expedite efforts to map out how geography and social connections play into economic inequality. Facebook’s involvement is also the latest sign of Zuckerberg trying to grapple with the aftershocks of the 2016 election. The social media site has been widely criticized for acting as both a political echo chamber and conduit for Russian propaganda during the campaign.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
